Goodbye Summer.

Goodbye summer. 
I will remember you like this:

On being tired.

Sometimes when you have a baby in your house the days get a bit blurry.

For 5.5 months now I have been living life in roughly 3 hour increments, day and night.  Sleep, wake up, nurse, play, nurse, sleep, wake up, nurse, play, nurse, sleep, wake up, etc..... round and round and round, I've been doing this since April--  which is getting to be a long time ago now.

Thank heavens for kindergarten.
And also thank heavens for my work which gives me a bit of a mental break from my mommy job.
And thank heavens for my baby who is basically a happy and jolly little friend even at 2am.  

In short, I'm not complaining, but Man-O-Man, I'm tired.  

I don't mind it it, really.  Because being tired is not the same as being unhappy.  A house with young children is a joyful havoc, as my mother would say.
And, for the most part, it's true.

I don't really have much else to say tonight (too tired).  So here are some photos and a little video. I'm sure there's got to be something poetic about being exhausted, lounging around with the children and the big orange cat, etc... Enjoying the little people who extend my days and shorten my nights and reset my clock every 3 hours.  

  

First Taste of Solids

5 Months

It has been has been a month filled with excitement and turmoil!

How startled you were the first few times when you woke yourself from a deep sleep because you had flipped onto your stomach while in dream land.  

Thank goodness you found Thumb.  Suck-suck-suck to relieve your angst.  

You sorted things out--- 

--but then something even more horrible your way came.  

A tooth.  And then another tooth.  

Don't leave me!  Don't put me down!  Hold me, help me, feed feed FEED me!  

Drooling, weepy little bear.  Up every other hour at night, because two teeth make you feel lonely, scared, and sore.  I wish I could tell you it gets better with teeth, but unfortunately evolution is still working on that one.  I had to have my teeth drilled last month; the horror!  They try to make it bearable; they hang iPads from the ceiling, and you can watch Forrest Gump while they're in there bulldozing away.  But it doesn't really help and I too felt lonely, scared, and sore.  

--I understand your pain. 

But in spite of teeth and tummy flops, every morning you wake up happy like the sun.  

Eloise-- I am moody and tired, but there you are in a yellow onesie, laughing and eating your toes.  I give in because you're right; the day is bright and new, with or without teeth.   

My mouth feels funny.

Chewing on my feet will help!

My new teeth are right in here!  

    

Kindergarten kid

We made it through the first week of kindergarten.
There was a moment-- right after I walked out of the doorway, but had not yet taken my eyes off our sullen little girl sitting on the rainbow rug-- when I didn't know if we could do it.  She would need me.  She wouldn't like it.  She would get lost on her way to the bathroom, or forget how to unbuckle her backpack, or not find a friend.
Of course, she did fine.
And we did fine too.  (well, we cried a little).

By the second day we were all a little more used to it.  And she exclaimed to me Thank you, mommy, for sending me to kindergarten!  

By the third day, (today), we have now become professionals at this kindergarten thing.  It's pretty amazing that she is there all day-- and they are learning music, going to the computer lab, approaching math...
And I am realizing the time I now have to work and be with Eloise--  it's going to be an entirely new world-- and I think I'm going to enjoy it.

But, admittedly, Friday night is nice.  It's great to have my girl back home, sitting in her underpants, eating a milkshake, watching a movie, staying up late.  Tomorrow she and grandma will make cookies, and we'll go on a long walk.  It will be just like the old days, when we were young and didn't go to kindergarten.